DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR TO YOU? – AT 10:11 A.M. ET:  This is the best brief analysis of what's happened to Britain that I've read recently.  If it has a familiar ring, it should.  It can happen here.  From London's Daily Mail:

It is clear after yesterday that a dangerous split runs through the heart of country. In place of unity, we are now two nations.

Vast swathes of Wales, the North of England and almost the whole of Scotland are rocksolid Labour territory, political fiefdoms where the Tory brand is regarded with a tribal hatred.

t is a remarkable fact that, as late as the 1950s, the Conservatives held the majority of seats in Scotland. But that sense of national balance has now disappeared from the electoral map. Today, there is a single Tory seat in Scotland, while there is not one in the northeastern region.

In direct contrast, most of England, particularly in the South and the Midlands, has turned blue.
There is just a sprinkling of red dots in London, Birmingham and a few other conurbations.

You could drive southwards the whole way from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight without leaving Conservative terrain.

And the reason for the divide:

This yawning division reflects the chasm that has developed between the two parts of our economy. The South and Midlands of England are the areas that generate the wealth on which our nation depends.

The majority of voters in these regions work in the private sector. Employment is high and welfare dependency low.

Little wonder then that these citizens, living in the real commercial world, should vote so decisively against a Labour government that has so badly mismanaged the economy, squandered their taxes and threatened their living standards.

The contrast with Labour's tribal lands could hardly be greater. Reliance on the state, be it through welfare benefits or public-sector jobs, is the central characteristic of the northern, Scottish, Welsh and inner-city constituencies that have remained firmly red.

The colors are reversed in Britain.  Red is for the leftist areas, which seems more logical than our terminology.

Throughout these areas, Labour is effectively using the wealth created in Middle England to subsidise a vast system of political patronage in its heartlands.

COMMENT:  Look at Britain, and contemplate the future of the United States under Obama and his ideological successors.

That doesn't mean that working people, laborers, don't have legitimate gripes.  They often do, both in Britain and America.  But the creation of a nanny state was never the answer.  Nor is blind worship of Wall Street.

Both Britain and America are in trouble.  It's going to take a more imaginative leadership than each country has now to get out of it.

May 8, 2010